Conveyer for bottle cleaning and pasteurizing machines



P 1943 E. R. BECKER 2,329,687

CONVEYER FOR BOTTLE CLEANING AND PASTEURIZING MACHINES Filed June 24, 1941 INVENTOR.

F :3 ERNEST R. BECKER BY M KW m ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 21, 1943 I ,5 1

oorrvEY Eit FOR BOTTLE CLEANING 'AND- PASTEURIZING MACHINES I Ernest R. Becker, Oak Park, 111., assignor to Elie Liquid Carbonic Corporaticngchicago, Ill.,a "corporation of Delaware a f Y. Application June 24, 194i, Serial No. 399,500

3 Claims. (G1. 198%131) This invention relates-to bottle cleaning machines; and more particularly to the endless conveyers by means of which the bottlesa're conducted throughesu'ch machines and subjected,-

during their transit therethrough, to various cleaning and/or pasteurizing operations. A type of endless conveyerwhich has gone into extensiveuse is one wherein the conveyer consists of side chains having bottle carriers extending transversely therebetween and'secured thereto, with means forimparting intermittent movement to both side chains,- thereby to "advance the carriers andthe bottles thereon through the bottle-cleaning machines, the means for imparting such intermittent moti-onconsisting of pawls, mounted on opposite sides of themachines, and adapted to engage rollers: carried by the'side chains, with means for reciprocating the said pawls. The transverse bottle carriers which constitute part. of .such conveyers are connected at their ends to thewinner members of the linksof the side chains by meansof end castings secured to said carriers. Heretofore the endicastings have been connected to the inner. members of the respectiveiinks of,;the side chains with their outer faces bearing directly against said members. Considerable difficulty has been encoun-.

tered in time past in securing the outer faces of the end castings to the respective side chain members in such manner as to insure that the carriers shall extend accurately at right angles to the direction of travel of the conveyer, this failure being due to the presence of irregularities on these outer faces. This inability to obtain the necessary exact relation between the carriers and the chains causes misalignment of the carriers with respect to the various brushing and rinsing devices of the machines to the action of which the bottles are subjected'by the movements of the conveyers.

A further diiiiculty, which has been due to this lack of exact relationship between the carriers and the chains, is that thereis a tendency for one or the other of the pusher pawls to carry the full load of advancing the conveyers through the machines. While the outer faces of the end castings could be subjected to a machining operation, thereby to overcome this difficulty, this operation would add such a substantial amount to the cost of manufacture as to render recourse thereto very undesirable.

I have been able to utilize standard carriers, including their end castings, and at the same time to overcome any possibility of misalignment, by the construction shown in the drawing hereof,

wherein Fig. 1 represents a plan view of a. portion-of an assembled bottle conveyer having my invention embodied therein; Fig. .2 a sectional elevation corresponding to the line 2-2 of Fig. 1' and looking in the direction of the arrows; and Fig. 3 a detail, partly. in plan and partly in section, of a portion of one of the side chainsofl,

my conveyor. and showing the manner in which the endcastings of thecarriers aresecured to the inner link members of the said chains...

Describing the. various parts by reference characters, Hi denotes the side chains of a1 conveyer of the type referred to hereinbefore, eachchain consisting of links comprising each an outer side member H and an inner side member I2. It will be noted that the link members H and [2, are spaced further apart at what I,will refer to as their rear. ends than at their front ends, said members being bent toward each other and-then extending parallel with each other to provide a narrower space between the same atthe front than at the rear. This is for the purpose of allowing the front ends of each link to be overlapped by the rear ends of the link in front thereof, as indicated clearly in the drawing. A roller is is mounted between the front ends of the members of each link and the rear endsof the members of the next adjacent link, being supported by a pin l4 extending through the overlapping portions of the links. It will be noted that the main bodies of the inner link members I2 of one of the opposed side chains are parallel with those of the other.

I5 denotes a plurality of bottle carriers, each having a plurality of bottle-receiving pockets l6 suitably supported thereby. I'l denotes general- 1y end castings which are secured to opposite ends of each carrier, as by means of bolts [8. Each end casting is provided with upper and lower flanges l9 and 20 adapted to receive the top and bottom edges of an inner link member therebetween and with a substantially plane outer surface 2| extending between said flanges which, in the carriers as heretofore constructed, has been bolted tightly against the adjacent face of a link member it. The misalignment to which I have referred has been due to the presence of irregularities on these surfaces. In order to prevent such misalignment, I have provided each end casting with a counterbore 22 of spherical contour formed in the former seating surface of the casting and have fitted within said counterbore a spherical washer 23, said washer being of casting I 1.

leave a slight clearance (preferably about inch) between the portion of the outer face of the end casting which surrounds the counterbore 22 and the adjacent surface 2| of the inner chain link [2. Each end of the carrier is secured to the chain adjacent thereto by means of a bolt 24 which extends through the link member I2 of such chain and through bores 23 and 25, provided respectively in the washer 23 and in the end of the bolt, for a purpose to be described.

Each end casting is also provided with a longi tuclinally extendin lug 26 having an opening 25 therethrough for the reception of the end [4* of the pin M which connects the front end of one chain link with the rear end of the other and which also supports a roller l3.

With the parts constructed and arranged as described, it is believed that the operation will be readily understood. The carriers having been assembled, the bolts 24 are pulled up moderately tight and locked by means of lock washers 21. Should any misalignment exist between any one or more of the carriers and the chain, when the parts are assembled, the operation of the pusher pawls 26, one on each side of the machine, will correct such misalignment during the initial running of the machine, the spherical contours of the washers and counterbores rendering the washers self-adjustable in their seats to an extent necessary to maintain parallelism between the opposed It will be noted that the bores 23? and 25 are of greater diameter than the diameterprojecting inwardly therefrom, a washer having a plane outer surface, and a convex inner surface of spherical contour fitted within each of said seats, the plane surfaces of said washers projecting beyond the first mentioned outer surfaces, and means securing the end extensions" of each of said carriers to their respective chain link members with the plane surfaces of the washers in engagement with their respective link members.

2. A bottle carrier comprising in combination side chains each having link members, carriers surfaces of the was-hers in engagement with the l adjacent surfaces of their respective link members.

3. A bottle carrier comprising in combination side chains each having link members, carriers extending between opposed link members of said side chains, and members secured to the opposite ends of the said carriers, each of said members having, an outer surface provided with a counter bore of spherical contour, a washer having a plane outer surface, and a convex inner surface of spherical contour fitted within eachof the said counterbores,- with the plane surfaces of the Washers extending beyond-v the first-mentioned outer surfaces, each end. member having a bore extending, inwardly from the bottom of the counte-rbcre thereof and adapted to register with the bore; of washer therein, and bolts extending through the. said boresand secured to the respective linkmembers, the bores being of greater diameter than the said bolts. I

R, BECKER. 

